b'authorities to demonstrate to taxpayers howcollaborate and present cases includingquarter of the time required to prepare the they are saving money through strategicdocumentary and audio-visual evidencepaper-based equivalent, allowing them to investments in technology for the benefitsecurely in one system, to be called up bycope with demand volumes and use their of all. judges on laptops in courtor at homeskills on more interesting work.or while travelling. The software presentsIn summary, when it comes to recruiting Proven savings documents as if they were in a paperand retaining local government lawyers Some councils are working withbundle, but in a searchable and consistentand legal support staff, and equipping them neighbouring authorities to save timeform. In court, this makes it easy forto handle ever-increasing workloads, the and costs of investment in technology tojudges and lawyers to use, and all partiesevidence shows that investing in the right enable efficiencies and maximise Returnin the case can be directed to a particulartechnology will be money well spent. on Investment (ROI). For example, Orbisparagraph of evidence quickly which isnt so Public Law (OPL) the legal services of Surreyeasy to achieve with paper-based bundles,Andrea Kilby is Director of UK Business County Council, Brighton and Hove Citywhere evidence is collated and stored acrossDevelopment at CaseLines. www.caselines.Council, and East and West Sussex countymultiple lever arch files. comcouncils working in partnership droveAn OPL joint committee report on the transition to digital courts together.the impact of CaseLines stated: Judges After implementing CaseLines digitalreported significant efficiencies in hearing evidence management and presentationpreparation. They noted the ability to be platform, OPL was able to recoup the initialable to work at home without the need to investment within just six months. Thetransport numerous lever arch files as well system has paid for itself by virtue of theas being able to make notes electronically money the local authority saves from noand move swiftly between pages during longer needing to transport mountains ofreading of the bundle. Solicitors and paper evidence to court.advocates have reported similar benefits. In fact, for the 2019/20 financial yearParalegals and junior staff, whose jobs CaseLines technology is expected to helpare heavily admin based, also get more save the councils a total of 90,000.opportunities for career development. For CaseLines allows parties to prepare,example, case bundles will typically take one'